Tinnitus

About 17% of Irish adults suffer to some extent from ringing, buzzing or other noises in the head, mainly localised in the ears. The auditory pathways are one of the most delicate and reactive mechanisms of the body. Since these are directly associated with the nervous system, their response is in direct proportion to the sufferer’s anxiety state. Generally it is difficult to extinguish the noise completely however hypnosis is efficient at reducing significantly the volume of the noise and the noise itself can be transformed into a cue for relaxation instead of annoyance.

Remember: “Nothing is Impossible, the word itself says I’M POSSIBLE!”

 

Chronic Pain

Feeling miserable with pain, wishing we could have a minute of respite just to relax a bit but all we can think of and feel is pain, pulsing, throbbing, burning, shooting down, electrifying, coming in waves, piercing, like barbed wire, pins & needles, crawling under our skin… the more we try and distract ourselves from it the more we cannot stop thinking about it and just takes over our life.

Pain can feel in many different ways and when there is pain, the painful area is instinctively withdrawn, and as muscle tension increases, the pain intensifies.

 

Experiencing pain leads naturally to become anxious. Being anxious can increase your perception of pain as you become more stressed and focused on the sensation. Also the anticipation of pain caused by being anxious will create more anxiety which will increase the perception of pain in an endless vicious circle just like shown below,

A big part of hypnosis for pain looks at this very issue: by helping your mind to react differently to the sensation of pain, anxiety levels reduce and thus does the perception of pain.

Hypnosis for pain aims to manage any fear and anxiety you may have relating to your pain and with the help of relaxing images that arouse physical relaxation, such as ‘floating’ or ‘lightness’, the muscles become relaxed and the pain is reduced.

This changes the thought patterns related to pain which can therefore make a huge difference to pain perception.

 

Having hypnosis as a tool also helps eliminate the stress that comes from not having control. In this we can take an active role in managing our pain by taking mental control in those instances where medication is not enough or where a desire for reducing medication is present.

 

Chronic pain conditions for which hypnosis has been used successfully include, among others, headache, backache, fibromyalgia, carcinoma-related pain, temporal mandibular disorder pain, and mixed chronic pain.

 

Studies show that more than 75% of people with chronic conditions, like rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis and related diseases, experience significant pain relief using hypnosis, however the bearer of a chronic condition may require a comprehensive plan that targets various aspects besides the pain experience. This is because living with pain on a daily basis can be incredibly difficult – both physically and mentally.

Having to cope with long-term conditions can lead to increased levels of stress, insomnia and even depression.

And in such cases insomnia has an especially important role in the experience of pain. Sleep is crucial as it gives our minds and bodies time to recover from the day and resets our capacity for resiliency. If we are in pain and unable to sleep properly there is no proper re-setting and the stress and pain threshold becomes lower and lower with time.

 

Remember: “Nothing is Impossible, the word itself says I’M POSSIBLE!”

Hypnosis Reduces Frequency and Intensity of Migraines

Compared the treatment of migraine by hypnosis and autohypnosis with the treatment of migraine by the drug prochlorperazine (Stemetil). Results show that the number of attacks and the number of people who suffered blinding attacks were significantly lower for the group receiving hypnotherapy than for the group receiving prochlorperazine. For the group on hypnotherapy, these two measures were significantly lower when on hypnotherapy than when on the previous treatment. It is concluded that further trials of hypnotherapy are justified against some other treatment not solely associated with the ingestion of tablets.

Anderson JA, Basker MA, Dalton R, Migraine and hypnotherapy, International Journal of Clinical & Experimental Hypnosis 1975; 23(1): 48-58.

Hypnosis Has a Reliable and Significant Impact on Acute and Chronic Pain

Hypnosis has been demonstrated to reduce analogue pain, and studies on the mechanisms of laboratory pain reduction have provided useful applications to clinical populations. Studies showing central nervous system activity during hypnotic procedures offer preliminary information concerning possible physiological mechanisms of hypnotic analgesia. Randomized controlled studies with clinical populations indicate that hypnosis has a reliable and significant impact on acute procedural pain and chronic pain conditions. Methodological issues of this body of research are discussed, as are methods to better integrate hypnosis into comprehensive pain treatment.

Hypnosis and clinical pain. Patterson DR, Jensen MP, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA USA 98104 Psychol Bull. 2003 Jul;129(4):495-521.

Healed 41% faster from fracture

Healed significantly faster from surgery

Two studies from Harvard Medical School show hypnosis significantly reduces the time it takes to heal.

Study One: Six weeks after an ankle fracture, those in the hypnosis group showed the equivalent of eight and a half weeks of healing.

Study Two: Three groups of people studied after breast reduction surgery. Hypnosis group healed “significantly faster” than supportive attention group and control group.

Harvard Medical School, Carol Ginandes and Union Institute in Cincinnati, Patricia Brooks, Harvard University Gazette Online at http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2003/05.08/01-hypnosis.html.

 

Menopause

Breaking out in sweat from one moment to the next and then getting the chills soon after, turning around in bed in the hope to have a decent sleep again as the energy available during the day is no longer what it used to be and trying to cope as best as we can with a rollercoaster of emotions.

Menopause can be a trying period for women who can experience regular physical discomfort and also may find themselves on an emotional rollercoaster due to the hormonal changes as well as struggling with the acceptance of the end of the fertility period of our lives.

Hypnosis helps in decreasing the sensations of hot and cold flushes as well as helping in achieving improved sleep. If required therapy can be tailored in order to accept changes in the body and the onset of a new period of life.

Remember: “Nothing is Impossible, the word itself says I’M POSSIBLE!”

 

Insomnia/Sleep issues

Difficulty in falling asleep and the more we “try” to sleep, the longer it takes for that to happen, waking up in the middle of the night and being unable to fall back asleep, mind racing and worrying over not getting a good-sleep night and anticipating being wrecked tomorrow!

Worry is often at the base of sleeping issues although in certain cases the cause is organic. In either cases, hypnosis is a very relaxing state and using self-hypnosis or listening to a hypnosis CD will help you greatly in falling asleep easily and have a good restorative sleep throughout the night.

Remember: “Nothing is Impossible, the word itself says I’M POSSIBLE!”

Pre & Post Surgery

Most people experience some level of anxiety in the knowledge that they are to go through an operation however the more relaxed we can stay upcoming the operation the less chances the medical staff will incur into difficulties.

The anxiety that accompanies most people into the operating room has been linked to patients experiencing more pain, a greater need for painkillers and longer stays in the hospital after surgery. It has been proven that pre-operative anxiety can have big effects on post-operative recovery.

Moreover it is possible to use hypnosis as a sole anaesthetic for minor surgeries for those who are reluctant to use medical anaesthesia or are allergic to some of the components or it can  be used in conjunction with traditional anaesthetics for major operations.

Remember: “Nothing is Impossible, the word itself says I’M POSSIBLE!”

Hypnosis Reduces Pain and Speeds up Recovery from Surgery

Since 1992, we have used hypnosis routinely in more than 1400 patients undergoing surgery. We found that hypnosis used with patients as an adjunct to conscious sedation and local anesthesia was associated with improved intraoperative patient comfort, and with reduced anxiety, pain, intraoperative requirements for anxiolytic and analgesic drugs, optimal surgical conditions and a faster recovery of the patient. We reported our clinical experience and our fundamental research.

[Hypnosis and its application in surgery] Faymonville ME, Defechereux T, Joris J, Adant JP, Hamoir E, Meurisse M, Service d’Anesthesie-Reanimation, Universite de Liege, Rev Med Liege. 1998 Jul;53(7):414-8.

Hypnosis Reduces Pain Intensity

Analysis of the simple-simple main effects, holding both group and condition constant, revealed that application of hypnotic analgesia reduced report of pain intensity significantly more than report of pain unpleasantness.

Dahlgren LA, Kurtz RM, Strube MJ, Malone MD, Differential effects of hypnotic suggestion on multiple dimensions of pain. Journal of Pain & Symptom Management. 1995; 10(6): 464-70.

Hypnosis Lowered Post-treatment Pain in Burn Injuries

Patients in the hypnosis group reported less post treatment pain than did patients in the control group. The findings are used to replicate earlier studies of burn pain hypnoanalgesia, explain discrepancies in the literature, and highlight the potential importance of motivation with this population.

Patterson DR, Ptacek JT, Baseline pain as a moderator of hypnotic analgesia for burn injury treatment. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology 1997; 65(1): 60-7.

Hypnosis Lowered Phantom Limb Pain

Hypnotic procedures appear to be a useful adjunct to established strategies for the treatment of phantom limb pain and would repay further, more systematic, investigation. Suggestions are provided as to the factors which should be considered for a more systematic research program.

Treatment of phantom limb pain using hypnotic imagery. Oakley DA, Whitman LG, Halligan PW, Department of Psychology, University College, London, UK.

Hypnosis Useful in Hospital Emergency Rooms Hypnosis can be a useful adjunct in the emergency department setting. Its efficacy in various clinical applications has been replicated in controlled studies. Application to burns, pain, pediatric procedures, surgery, psychiatric presentations (e.g., coma, somatoform disorder, anxiety, and post traumatic stress), and obstetric situations (e.g., hyperemesis, labor, and delivery) are described.

Emerg Med Clin North Am. 2000 May;18(2):327-38, x. The use of hypnosis in emergency medicine. Peebles-Kleiger MJ, Menninger School of Psychiatry and Mental Health Sciences, Menninger Clinic, Topeka, KS, USA. peeblemj@menninger.edu